UCU calls for an end to jobs cuts in response to Justice Select Committee prisons report

The report raises serious concerns about cuts to prison education funding and says it is "unacceptable" that 50% of prisoners are not involved in prison education, training or work, despite the high level of need across the adult estate.  

UCU submitted evidence to the inquiry and gave oral evidence during one of the in-person sessions, several points from which were cited in the committee's final report. 

UCU general secretary Jo Grady said: 'We welcome the recommendations of the Justice Committee report, many of which we raised during evidence sessions.  The current flawed system fails us all, prisoners, staff and the wider community. The government and prison management need to invest in the workforce, not cut hundreds of jobs. Meaningful education cannot take place against a backdrop of widespread redundancies of prison educators.   

'If prison education is to remain with the Ministry of Justice, rather than the Department of Education as we have long argued for, the ministry must urgently set out how it will address the barriers to education delivery, particularly staffing, to ensure that education is prioritised as a core pillar of the prison rehabilitation regime.'